How Do You Use Claude in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides?
You use Claude in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides by installing the Claude for Google Workspace add-on, then opening a file and choosing Extensions > Claude > Open Claude. Claude opens in a panel on the right of the screen, where Gemini usually sits, and works on the file in front of you. Anthropic released it as a public beta on 6 October 2026, and it works with any paid Claude plan. The add-on is available in the Google Workspace Marketplace, and a single installation covers all three apps. If the Install button is greyed out, whoever runs your Google Workspace needs to allow it first.
Claude now works inside the file you already have open
Picture a team member who uses Claude every day to tidy up proposals. They copy a section from the Google Doc, paste it into Claude in another tab, and copy the better version back. Then they spend five minutes fixing the fonts and headings that broke on the way. Repeat that for every proposal, spreadsheet and slide deck, and it takes a real bite out of the week.
The add-on removes that round trip. Claude reads the file you have open, sees the text, cells or slides you have selected, and makes its changes in place. Anthropic's Claude for Google Workspace page says Claude follows your heading styles, builds new slides using your deck's theme, and leaves the formatting around its changes untouched.
Gemini stays exactly where it is. It is still built into Google Workspace, and Claude sits alongside it, so your team can use whichever they prefer for the job at hand. If your business already pays for Claude because some of your team rely on it, the add-on puts it where they do most of their work.
What do you need before you install it?
You need a paid Claude plan, a Google account that is allowed to install apps from the Google Workspace Marketplace, and a computer running Chrome, Edge or Safari.
Anthropic's Help Centre guide lists the plans as Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise, so the free plan is not enough. For a business, the choice of plan matters for more than access. Team and Enterprise are covered by business terms and a data processing agreement, and Pro and Max fall under Anthropic's consumer terms, even when the business pays for them. The Kimbley IT guide to shadow AI explains why an approved AI tool in a business plan is the safer footing for your team.
How do you install Claude in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides?
Open the Claude listing in the Google Workspace Marketplace. The quickest route is this link to Claude for Google Workspace. You can also open the Marketplace and search for "Claude for Google Workspace".
Click Install and choose your Google account. If you are a Google Workspace super administrator, you will also see Admin install, which puts Claude in front of your whole team at once.
Review the permissions and click Allow. Google lists what Claude can reach before you agree. According to Anthropic, the add-on can access its own sidebar, the file you open it in, and any connectors you choose to enable.
Reload any files you already have open. Claude appears in the Extensions menu once a file has been reloaded.
Open a file and choose Extensions > Claude > Open Claude. The sidebar opens on the right of the screen, and the same steps work in Docs, Sheets and Slides.
In the sidebar, you will find a box for your prompt, a model picker, and a + button to add files. If you have built skills in Claude, type a forward slash, then pick one to run on the file. The add-on is still in beta, and Anthropic was already updating it in the days after launch, so expect a few new options to appear as you use it.
Why is the Install button greyed out?
The Install button is greyed out when your Google Workspace administrator has not yet allowed Claude. Google Workspace lets administrators decide which Marketplace apps team members can install, and many businesses block anything that has not been approved. If you try to install a blocked app, Google tells you the application is not allowed by your administrator. You need to speak with your Google Workspace admin to have them approve the app.
What can you ask Claude to do?
The best place to start is with the jobs that currently involve copying and pasting into Claude. Below are two examples for each app, drawn from an ordinary week in a small business, each with a prompt you can copy. Swap in the names of your own tabs, columns and slides.
In Google Docs
A design agency has a twelve-page proposal for a new client. The first page spends three paragraphs on the agency's history before it reaches the price, and the client will have stopped reading by then.
Rewrite the introduction so it opens with the deliverables, the price and the timescale. Keep it to one paragraph and leave the rest of the document as it is.
After the Monday meeting, someone's notes sit in a Doc as a long list of half-sentences that nobody will look at again. Claude can turn them into something people act on.
Turn the notes under "Next steps" into a table with three columns: who, what, and by when. Use the names that appear in the notes.
For anything a client will see, you can ask Claude to show its changes as cards that you accept or reject one at a time.
In Google Sheets
An online shop exports its orders every month. The dates arrive in three different formats, and some customers appear twice with slightly different spellings.
Column D has dates written in different formats. Change them all to day, month, year. Then list any customers who appear more than once on a new tab called Duplicates.
A building firm logs the costs of every job in one long tab and wants to see where the money is going.
Using the Jobs tab, build a pivot table on a new tab showing total costs by month and by type of job. Then add a chart of the monthly totals.
Anthropic says Claude can write formulas, build pivot tables and native Sheets charts, and add new tabs. On a spreadsheet someone else built, you can also ask it to walk you through how a total is calculated and point out any figures entered by hand.
In Google Slides
An accountancy practice is preparing a client briefing and needs one more slide setting out the key dates from its notes.
Add a slide after slide 5 that sets out the three key dates from the notes on slide 2. Use the same layout as slide 4.
The person presenting the deck then needs something to say.
Write about 30 seconds of speaker notes for each slide, in a plain, conversational tone.
Anthropic says Claude builds new slides from the layouts and theme already in your deck. It also checks for overlapping elements, text running off the edge of a slide, and text that is hard to read. When a prompt works well, save it where the rest of your team can find it, and a shared prompt library is the simplest way to do that.
| What to Ask Claude in Docs, Sheets and Slides | ||
| App | What to ask | What Claude does |
|---|---|---|
| Google Docs | Rewrite, shorten or restructure a section, turn notes into a table, or tidy headings and numbering. | Edits the text in place and leaves the formatting around it alone. Bigger changes can come as cards you accept or reject. |
| Google Sheets | Clean up messy data, explain or fix a formula, or build a pivot table or chart. | Writes formulas, adds new tabs, and builds native Sheets pivot tables and charts from your data. |
| Google Slides | Add a slide, split a crowded one, write speaker notes, or tidy titles across the deck. | Builds slides from your deck's own layouts and theme, and checks for overlapping or hard-to-read text. |
Does Claude change your file without asking?
Not unless you tell it to. Claude starts in a mode Anthropic calls Ask before edits, where it describes each change in plain language and waits for you to click Allow. Once you are comfortable, you can switch to Accept all edits, and Claude will make ordinary changes to the content without stopping. It still asks before it adds links or images from the web.
Every change Claude makes is recorded in the file's version history under your name. If something goes wrong, you can undo the last change or restore an earlier version of the file from File > Version history.
Claude sees only the file you open it in and any connectors you enable. Anthropic says it does not use the file, your messages or your attachments to train its models, and that it deletes them from its systems within 30 days.
Can you work on Google files from the Claude app as well?
Yes. Alongside the add-on, Anthropic released Google Docs, Sheets and Slides connectors, also in beta, which work the other way round. You start in Claude on the web or the desktop app and paste a link to a Google file or ask for a new one. Claude then creates or edits it from the chat. Access follows your Google Drive permissions, so Claude can reach any file you can. A connector reaches far more than the single file the sidebar works on, so read what happens to your business data when you connect AI to Google Workspace before you switch it on.
Frequently asked questions
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It comes with every paid Claude plan: Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise. It does not work on the free plan. It is a public beta for now, so Anthropic may add or change features before the full release.
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No. Gemini stays built into Google Workspace, and Claude opens in its own sidebar alongside it. Your team can use whichever suits the task in front of them.
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Yes. Type a forward slash in the Claude sidebar and pick a skill to run it on the open file. The sidebar uses the skills and connectors already set up in your Claude account, and new connectors are added at claude.ai.
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Yes, if you attach them. Click the + button in the sidebar to add up to 20 files to a message, such as last year's figures to compare with the open spreadsheet. Claude only edits the file you opened it in.
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Anthropic says it does not use the open file, your messages or your attachments to train its models, and it deletes them within 30 days. On a Team or Enterprise plan, your business's own agreement with Anthropic also applies. On Pro or Max, the consumer terms apply, even if the business pays.
Is Claude already set up for your team?
If you are a Kimbley IT client and your team uses Claude, Kimbley IT has already made the add-on available to you. Open any Doc, Sheet or Slides file, choose Extensions > Claude > Open Claude, and sign in with your Claude account.
Kimbley IT is an IT support company and an authorised Google partner, serving businesses in the UK and the US. Part of that work is keeping on top of new tools like this one and agreeing with you on which ones your team should have. Kimbley IT then switches them on safely, so nobody is left stuck at a greyed-out button.
If nobody does that for your business today, book a video call with Kimbley IT using the form below. You will get a plain conversation about the AI tools your team already uses and how to set them up to work for the business.
